No new oil drilling has been approved since 1984 off the California coast, where a major spill in 1969 helped launch the environmental movement. Sixty-nine percent of Californians oppose offshore drilling today.

Skimming oil in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon spill, May 29, 2010.
NOAA Januari 5, 2018

As BP plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, questions can be asked about whether it has made the right changes to its working practices to avoid a repeat of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Sperm whales, like many other species, use echolocation which can be hampered by noise.
Gabriel Barathieu/Wikimedia CommonsSeptember 2, 2016

Offshore drilling debates boil down to "Drill, baby, drill" versus "spill, baby, spill." But economists say the right question is when we know enough to drill safely – and often that means waiting.

The Kulluk, Shell’s Arctic offshore drilling platform, was grounded in 2013 after efforts by the US Coast Guard and tug vessel crews to move the vessel to a safe harbor during a winter storm.
Zachary Painter/ US Coast Guard/Mei 22, 2015